Rotary bolt latch unit



Nov. 1, 1960 E. L, SCHLAGE ROTARY BOLT LATCH mm Filed Nov. 25, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. ERNEST L. CHLAGE gim mm a Mp A 7'TORNEYS Nov. 1, 1960 E. L. SCHLAGE ROTARY sour LATCH UNIT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 25, 1957 INVENTOR. ERNEST L SCHLAGE flvl a l e-10., v

ATTORNEYS United States Patent ROTARY BOLT LATCH UNIT Ernest L. Schlage, Burlingame, Califi, assignor to Schlage Lock Company, a corporation Filed Nov. 25, 1957, Ser. No. 698,862

'3 Claims. (Cl. 292-279) This invention relates to rotary bolt latch units for doors and particularly units adapted for use with residential doors.

Heretofore rotary bolt latch units have been employed to a considerable extent on automobile doors but have not been used successfully on residential doors. The inherent advantages of rotary bolt latch units such as their fairly low noise level and their inherently pick-proof nature makes them desirable for use in some instances on conventional residential doors.

However, because of the present highly developed nature of of cylindrical locksets it is considered undesirable and impractical to modify the conventional actuating mechanism with its attendant advantages in favor of other actuating mechanisms such as those employed in automobile locks.

It is therefore the main object of the present invention to provide a rotary bolt latch unit which may be employed with a conventional cylindrical lockset. In this connection it should be noted that in certain installations it may be desirable to employ a rotary bolt instead of a conventional sliding bolt without changing the lockset. By the present invention a rotary bolt latch unit is provided which is interchangeable with the conventional sliding bolt latch unit.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a rotary bolt latch unit that is interchangeable with a sliding bolt latch unit for use with a cylindrical lock and which does not alter the function of the cylindrical lock in any way. In other words, the operation of the door and the various possible functions of the lockset are unaffected so that insofar as the user is concerned the operation of the lockset is the same.

Still another object of the invention is to generally improve rotary bolt latch units.

Other advantages will be seen from the following specification and claims.

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross section through a door showing the rotary latch bolt unit in disconnected position.

Fig. 2 is an edge elevation of the door showing the rotary latch unit.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the latch bolt unit in connected or clutched position.

Fig. 4 is horizontal cross section through a door frame and its associated door showing the invention in operation.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the door frame showing the adjustable means for securing the stop in place.

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of a modified form of rotary latch provided with six stop engaging elements.

Fig. 7 is an exploded perspective of the latch unit showing the parts thereof in their relative positions.

The invention is adapted to be employed with various types of doors, but is particularly suitable for use with a horizontally swinging residential door generally designated 1 (Fig. 4) cooperating with a frame 2 that includes a door stop 3.

r The rotary bolt latch unit may be'received within'a 2,958,554 Patented Nov. 1, 1960 conventional cylindrical housing 5 (Fig. 1) which in turn is fitted within a bore 6 extending from the edge 7 of the door into meeting relation with the relatively large diameter bore 8 that is adapted to receive therein the housing 9 of a latch bolt actuating mechanism. As stated above, one of the features of the present invention is that such actuating mechanism may be conventional and its exact construction is immaterial. Retractor jaws 10 integral With the retractor (not shown) are shown in engagement with the retractor bar 11 which, in conventional reciprocable latch bolts, functions to retract the latch bolt in response to movement of the retractor jaws 10 to the left as seen in Fig. 1. However, by the present invention, retraction of the retractor bar 11 in the normal manner is employed to disconnect the rotary bolt in a manner to be described.

The latch bolt housing 5 is provided at its outer end with an outwardly directed flange 15 which is received between a face plate 16 and a backing plate 17 recessed in the edge 7 of the door. A pair of screws 18 are employed to hold the face plate 16 and the cylindrical housing 5 fixed relative to the door 1.

Rotatably supported within housing 5 is a rotary latch member generally designated 20 which is generally cylindrical at its inner portion 21 and formed to provide a plurality of vanes 22-25 at its outer end. The axial portion of the member 24 adjacent said vanes is extended to provide an integral pin 26 which is rotatably received within a corresponding hole 27 centrally positioned in faceplate 16. By this structure it will be noted that member 20 is adequately supported at both ends for rotation in housing 5. To prevent axial movement of member 20 inwardly of the housing 5 pin 26 may be upset at its outer end as indicated at 28.

At its inner end member 20 is provided with a plurality of spiral clutch teeth 30 which cooperate with complementarily formed clutch teeth 31 formed on a movable face clutch generally designated 32. Face clutch 32 is generally cylindrical and is slidably received within housing 5 for movement toward and away from rotary latch member 20.

The inner end of the housing 5 is conventional and includes an end plate 34 provided with prongs 35 by which the housing 5 is interengaged with housing 9 to afford a firm connection. The end plate 34 is secured relative to housing 5 by means of flanges 38 bent around said endwall from the sidewalls of said housing 5.

End plate 34 is provided with an elongated rectangular hole 37 for slidably receiving therethrough the above mentioned retractor bar 11. The outer end of retractor bar 11, instead of being connected to a reciprocable latch bolt in the normal manner, is fixedly secured to the sliding face clutch 32 centrally of the latter (Fig. 1). By the above described structure it will be noted that the normal operation of the latch bolt actuator through jaws 10 serves to retract face clutch 32 inwardly out. of engagement with rotary latch bolt member 20 from. the position of Fig. 3 to the position of Fig. l.

Interposed between clutch 32 and the end plate 34 of housing 5 is a compression spring 40 which acts to yieldably urge clutch 32 toward member 20 at all times. The inner end of clutch 32 may be recessed as indicated at 41 to receive the outer end of spring 40' and the inner diameter of spring 40 may be slightly greater than the cross sectional extent of retractor bar 11 so that the latter also acts as a spring guide.

At this point it will be noted that rotary bolt member 20 is free for rotation in housing 5 in either direction when clutch 32 is retracted to the position of Fig. 1. Also it will be noted that member 2ft is held against rotation in a counterclockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 2, by the clutch 32 when the latter is in projected position in engagement with teeth 30 of member 20. This holding action of clutch 32 results from the fact that the retractor bar 11 rigid therewith, is held against rotation within the rectangular hole 37 in end plate 34 of housing 5.

However, it will be seen that clockwise rotation of rotary bolt member 20, as seen in Fig. 2, is permitted when clutch 32 is engaged because of the spiral jaws or teeth employed. In such a case the resistance to clockwise rotation is merely the rotary efiort required on member 20 to retract sliding clutch 32 against the urging of spring 40.

In some instances the spring 40 may be omitted since sulficient spring pressure may be provided by the retractor springs (not shown) to urge jaws to the right (Fig. 1) to cause clutch 32 to engage bolt 20.

Referring now to Fig. 2, the face plate 16 is slotted as at 43 and the housing 5 is similarly slotted as at 42 (Fig. 7) to permit entrance of a stop pin 45 (Fig. 4) between a pair of adjacent vanes such as vanes 22, 2.3 (Fig. 2). Door 1 is also provided with a slot 44 for this same purpose.

As best seen in Fig. 4 the stop pin or keeper 45 is fixedly secured to the door frame 2 so that upon closing movement of door 1 the pin enters the housing 5 at a position just above (or below) the axis of rotation of rotary bolt 20. For example, referring to Fig. 2 which shows the door in closed position, the stationary pin 45, upon engagement with vane 23 rotates the member until the clutch 32, retracted by such rotation, is projected by spring into'holding engagement with member 20. In such position (Fig. 2) opening movement of the door is prevented by vane 22 which engages pin because counterclockwise rotation of member 20 is prevented by clutch 32.

Inasmuch as housing 5 is fixed relative to door 1 it is desirable to be able to adjust pin 45 on frame 2 so that the same properly enters slots 44, 43 in the door and face plate respectively. To this end a relatively deep recess 46 is provided in frame 2 for receiving therein a clamping plate 47. A somewhat larger and shallower recess or mortise 48 is provided to receive therein a cover plate 49 that may be fixedly secured to the frame by screws 50 so that it is flush with the frame 2.

The pin 45 is integrally provided with an enlarged head 51 adapted to be received between the clamping plate 47 and the cover plate 49; and an opening 52 is provided in cover plate 49 to permit pin 45 to project therethrough in various adjusted positions. Clamping plate 47 is connected to cover plate 49 by means of a plurality of screws 53 entering threaded holes in said clamping plate. By this structure, upon tightening screws 52 the enlarged head 51 of stop 45 is clamped securely between the plates 47, 49 against shifting relative to frame 2. If for any reason the pin 45 gets out of registration with the slot 44 in the door it is a simple matter to adjust the position of said pin by means of screws 53.

It will be understood that the number of vanes or stop engaging elements on the rotary bolt is not critical. For example, in Fig. 6 a bolt 55 is shown having six vanes 56 cooperating with a stop pin 57. Regardless of the number of vanes, it will be apparent that the juncture 58 between adjacent vanes may be formed to suit the cross sectional shape of pin 57 so that when the bolt is in clutched or locked position there is no relative movement possible between the bolt and the pin to permit rattling of the door.

In operation, upon closing movement 'of the door 1, pin 45 enters the door and rotates the rotary latch member 20 to a position such as shown in Fig. 2. In this connection it will be understood that the relative positions of the clutch teeth on clutch 32 and member 20 may readily be predetermined so that clutch 32 is projected into a holding position relative to member 20 when the vanes 22-25 are disposed so as to prevent opening movement of the door. In other words, after axial movement of clutch 32 away from member 20 in response to clockwise movement (Fig. 2) of vane 23, clutch 32 may be arranged to snap into holding engagement with member 20 just before the door 1 engages door stop 3 of the door frame 2.

When it is desired to open the door it is merely necessary to turn the knob of the door to actuate the con-"ventional actuator (not shown) so that retractor jaws 10 retract the latch bar 11. This action results in disconnection of clutch 32 so that rotary latch 26 is free to rotate upon opening movement of the door.

It will be apparent that the combination shown of the rotary latch bolt and the conventional reciprocable retractor bar has no effect in the operation of the actuating mechanism regardless of the function for which the latter is designed. For example, if the cylindrical lock mechanism employed is the type that includes a push button on the inner knob for locking the lockset from the inside, the rotary latch bolt will have no effect on said function because, as the door is closed, the rotation imparted to rotary bolt 20 by pin 45 causes inward movement or retraction of retractor bar 11 to undog the locking bar of the cylindrical lock.

In other words, the rotary bolt latch unit shown is completely interchangeable in every respect with the conventional reciprocable latch bolt unit.

Another feature of the above described unit is that it is practically pickproof since there is no way of rotating the rotary bolt from the outer side of the door to free the same from the pin 45.

The very specific description given above of the preferred forms of the invention should not be taken as restrictive of the scope of the invention which is defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A rotary bolt latch unit for a door adapted to cooperate with a fixed keeper on the frame of said door comprising: a retractor bar, means connected with said retractor bar for actuating the same, a rotary bolt supported for rotation about an axis, a holding member connected with said retractor bar and slidably Supported for movement along said axis into and out of engagement with said bolt, means for preventing rotation of said member, the adjacent ends of said member and said bolt being formed with camming surfaces to permit rotation of said bolt in one direction only when engaged by said member, spring means for yieldably urging said member toward said bolt at all times whereby said member is moved axially against the urging of said spring means upon rotation of said bolt in said one direction thereby actuating said retractor bar actuating means.

2. A rotary bolt latch unit for a door adapted to cooperate with a fixed keeper on the frame of said door comprising: a rotary bolt supported for rotation about an axls, a holding member slidably supported for movement along said axis into and out of engagement with said bolt, means for preventing rotation of said member, the adjacent ends of said member and said bolt being formed with camming surfaces to permit rotation of said bolt in one direction only when engaged by said member, spring means for yieldably urging said member toward said bolt at all times whereby said member is moved axially against the urging of said sprin means upon rotation of said bolt in said one direction, and a retractor bar connected at one end to said member and connected at its other end to a cylindrical lock retractor for movement therewith at all times.

3. In combination with a door lock that includes a reciprocably mounted bolt retractor bar, bar retracting means connected with Said bar for movement therewith at all times, a rotary latch bolt carried by said door and cooperating with a fixed keeper on the door frame, holding means carried by said bar for holding said mi n! bo g in r tat n in one di n o y connected with said retractor bar for disengagement from said bolt upon retraction of said retracting means, camming surfaces on said holding means and said rotary bolt respectively for moving said holding means axially away from said rotary latch bolt upon rotation of the latter in a direction opposite to said one direction whereby such rotation of said rotary latch bolt in said opposite direction retracts said bar retracting means References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

